HX00029238 


♦♦.Society  of  the  N,  Y,  Hospital 
P.A982.  Nii3      So  1 


Columbia  (Bntoertfttp 

College  of  logicians;  ano  burgeons; 
Hiorarp 


Columbia  SJmbertfitp 
tn  tfje  Ciip  of  J^eto  gorfe 

College  of  •Pfrpgicians;  ana  burgeons 


Reference  Hitarp 


THE   SOCIETY    OF 
THE  NEW  YORK  HOSPITAL 

INCORPORATED    1771 


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http://www.archive.org/details/societymaintainsOOnewy 


THE  SOCIETY  OF 
THE  NEW  YORK  HOSPITAL 


INCORPORATED   1771 


THE  SOCIETY  MAINTAINS 
THE   NEW  YORK   HOSPITAL 

6  WEST  SIXTEENTH  STREET  AND  7-23  WEST  FIFTEENTH  STREET 

THE   HOUSE    OF   RELIEF 

HUDSON  AND  JAY  STREETS 

BLOOMINGDALE   HOSPITAL 
FOR   MENTAL   DISEASES 

WHITE  PLAINS,  NEW  YORK 

CONVALESCENT    COTTAGES 

WHITE  PLAINS,  NEW  YORK 


NEW   YORK 

MCMXII 


NOTE 

THE  Governors  of  the  New  York  Hospital  have 
been  for  some  time  deeply  conscious  of  the  defects  of 
the  present  site  of  their  main  Hospital  in  15th  and  16th 
Streets.  Owing  to  the  erection  of  lofty  buildings  in  its  imme- 
diate proximity,  the  Hospital  has  been  deprived  to  a  great  ex- 
tent of  its  light,  air  and  sunshine  —  which  are  to-day  recog- 
nized as  indispensible  prerequisites  for  proper  hospital  work. 
That  it  has  been  possible  to  conduct  the  Hospital  at  that  spot 
with  any  degree  of  satisfaction,  has  been  chiefly  due  to  the 
fortunate  but  quite  accidental  circumstance  that  the  land  ly- 
ing directly  opposite,  on  the  southerly  side  of  15th  Street,  has 
not  been  built  upon;  but  it  is  evidently  impossible  to  count 
upon  a  continuance  of  these  conditions  for  any  length  of  time. 

The  Governors  of  the  Society,  therefore,  on  January  31, 
1910,  adopted  resolutions  expressing  their  opinion  that  the 
present  site  had  become  inadequate,  both  in  size  and  facilities, 
for  the  efficient  performance  of  the  work  of  the  Society,  and 
that  these  defects  were  increasing  and  seemed  practically 
irremediable;  and  they  set  about  enquiries  as  to  obtaining  a 
new  and  suitable  site. 

In  the  Autumn  of  1910  the  Governors  determined  to  pur- 

7 


NOTE 

chase  the  entire  block  bounded  by  11th  and  12th  Avenues  and 
54th  and  55th  Streets  for  a  new  hospital,  and  this  has  now 
been  done  —  with  the  exception  of  a  single  lot  at  the  corner  of 
12th  Avenue  and  55th  Street. 

The  following  brief  history  of  the  Society  and  of  its  devel- 
opment, together  with  a  description  of  the  buildings  proposed 
to  be  erected  upon  the  new  site,  has  been  prepared  for  the 
information  of  those  who  are  interested  in  the  welfare  of  this, 
the  oldest  Hospital  in  the  State  of  New  York. 


THE  SOCIETY  OF 
THE  NEW  YORK  HOSPITAL 

THE  Corporation  now  known  as  The  Society  of  the 
New  York  Hospital,  was  created  by  a  Royal  Charter, 
which  passed  the  seals  on  June  13,  1771.  After  the 
Revolution  the  charter  was  confirmed  by  the  State  of  New 
York  and  the  Society  was  generously  aided  by  the  Legislature. 
It  had  its  origin  in  a  large  public  subscription,  headed  by  the 
Governor  of  the  Province  —  Sir  Henry  Moore  —  which  was 
opened  in  1769  as  the  result  of  an  address  delivered  by  Dr. 
Samuel  Rard  at  the  Commencement  of  King's  College  in  May 
of  that  year.  Doctor  Rard,  a  young  American  gentleman,  had 
studied  medicine  in  Edinboro,  and  on  his  return  to  New  York 
had  been  engaged  for  two  years  with  some  of  his  medical  col- 
leagues in  teaching  medicine  and  surgery  in  the  Medical  School 
in  King's  College.  Its  professors  very  soon  found  themselves 
under  obvious  difficulties  in  the  way  of  giving  clinical  instruc- 
tion, and  Doctor  Rard's  address  in  the  Spring  of  1769  was  there- 
fore inspired  largely  by  the  vast  importance  of  affording 
adequate  opportunities  for  medical  education;  although  he  also 
dwelt  with  earnestness  and  eloquence  upon  the  lack  of  neces- 
sary accommodations  for  the  sick  poor  of  so  large  a  mercantile 
city  as  the  New  York  of  that  day. 


THE    SOCIETY    OF   THE    NEW    YORK    HOSPITAL 

Five  acres  of  ground  on  the  westerly  side  of  Broadway 
opposite  Pearl  Street  were  soon  purchased  as  a  site  —  al- 
though it  was  so  far  out  of  town  as  to  be  considered  extremely 
inconvenient  for  visiting  physicians  and  surgeons.  The  foun- 
dations for  a  building  were  laid  in  July,  1773,  but  owing  to  a 
fire  when  the  building  was  near  completion,  it  was  not  quite 
finished  when  New  York  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  British  in 
the  war  of  Independence.  During  the  war,  the  hospital  build- 
ing was  occupied  by  British  and  Hessian  soldiers  as  barracks, 
and  occasionally  as  a  hospital. 

The  effects  of  war  —  physical  and  financial  —  prevented 
the  opening  of  the  Hospital  for  several  years;  so  that  it  was  not 
until  January  3,  1791,  that  the  house  was  in  proper  condition 
to  receive  patients.  From  that  time  forward  it  continued  for  a 
long  time  to  be  the  only  hospital  in  the  City  of  New  York. 

During  the  many  years  of  its  existence  the  Hospital  has 
always  had  the  benefit  of  the  services  of  some  of  the  most  dis- 
tinguished physicians  and  surgeons  of  this  country.  To  men- 
tion only  a  few  of  those  who  are  dead,  reference  may  be  made 
to  Dr.  Samuel  Bard,  Dr.  Wright  Post,  Dr.  Samuel  L.  Mitchill, 
Dr.  David  Hosack,  Dr.  Valentine  Mott,  Dr.  John  Kearny 
Rodgers,  Dr.  Edward  Delafield,  Dr.  Thomas  M.  Markoe,  Dr. 
William  H.  Van  Buren,  Dr.  Willard  Parker,  Dr.  William  H. 
Draper  and  Dr.  William  T.  Bull. 

The  list  of  its  Governors  includes  many  of  the  most  notable 
names  among  the  citizens  of  New  York.  Among  other  former 
Governors,  since  deceased,  are  John  Jacob  Astor,  William 
Bayard,  Aaron  Burr,  James  W.  Beekman,  Robert  C.  Cornell, 
James  Duane,  Thomas  H.  Faile,  Philip  Flone,  Abram  S.  Hew- 
itt, John  Jay,  James  Kent,  Edward  King,  William  Laight, 
Lindley  Murray,  Edwin  D.  Morgan,  William  H.  Osborn,  John 
Harsen  Rhoades,  John  A.  Stevens,  Jackson  S.  Schultz,  Charles 

10 


THE    SOCIETY    OF   THE    NEW    YORK    HOSPITAL 

E.  Strong,  Frederick  D.  Tappen,  Richard  Varick  and  Samuel 
Willets.  Its  Presidents  were  John  Watts,  John  Alsop,  Rich- 
ard Morris,  Issac  Roosevelt,  Theophylact  Bache,  Gerard  Wal- 
ton, Matthew  Clarkson,  Thomas  Eddy,  Peter  Augustus  Jay, 
George  Newbold,  George  T.  Trimble,  John  C.  Green,  Robert 
Lenox  Kennedy,  William  H.  Macy,  James  M.  Brown,  Robert 
J.  Livingston,  Merritt  Trimble,  Sheppard  Gandy,  Cornelius 
N.  Bliss,  Philip  Schuyler,  Theodorus  Bailey  Woolsey  —  all 
now  dead. 


11 


THE  SUCCESSIVE  HOSPITAL 
BUILDINGS 

THE  older  residents  of  this  City  remember  well  the  mas- 
sive central  building  of  venerable  gray  stone  that  stood 
in  the  midst  of  grass  and  trees  upon  the  Hospital  prop- 
erty —  just  north  of  Duane  Street  and  discreetly  drawn  back 
from  the  continuous  roar  of  Broadway.  But  for  a  new  porch, 
it  was  the  original  Hospital  of  Revolutionary  days. 

In  due  season  other  buildings,  less  conspicuous  from  the 
street,  grew  up  about  it  on  the  same  plot  —  and  among  them 
was  a  Lunatic  Asylum,  opened  in  1808  and  capable  of  accom- 
modating about  seventy  patients  as  lunatics  were  then  housed. 
But  by  1815  the  demands  upon  both  the  Hospital  and  the 
Asylum  had  become  so  great  that  a  piece  of  land  containing 
some  twenty-six  acres  situated  on  the  Harlem  Heights  about 
seven  miles  from  the  City,  and  fronting  on  the  Bloomingdale 
Road,  was  purchased  at  $500  per  acre,  as  a  site  for  a  new  and 
more  extensive  building  for  insane  patients.  Some  small  pieces 
of  ground  adjoining  were  subsequently  added,  making  in  all 
about  eighty  acres,  which  were  bounded  on  the  North  by  a 
line  approximately  that  of  the  present  120th  Street.  On  this 
rocky  farm  the  corner  stone  of  a  building  for  the  accommo- 
dation of  insane  patients  was  laid  in  1818,  and  the  new  build- 

13 


THE    SOCIETY    OF   THE    NEW   YORK   HOSPITAL 

ing  was  opened  for  the  accommodation  of  patients  in  1821, 
when  the  patients  were  transferred  from  the  Asylum  in  the 
City. 

By  1894,  eighty  acres  of  land  near  "the  seven-mile  stone 
at  Bloomingdale"  had  become  of  such  value  that  the  Gover- 
nors of  the  Hospital  resolved  to  sell  that  property  and  remove 
the  institution  to  a  farm  of  about  three  hundred  acres  in  the 
neighborhood  of  White  Plains  —  where  the  work  of  the 
Society  for  the  benefit  of  persons  suffering  from  mental  dis- 
eases has  since  been  conducted. 

But  previous  to  the  removal  from  old  Bloomingdale,  the 
demands  of  business  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  original  Hos- 
pital had  become  so  great  that  it  was  determined  to  remove 
that  also.  It  was  thought  proper  to  select  a  locality  nearer 
to  what  was  then  the  central  part  of  the  City;  and  accordingly 
in  1869,  land  on  the  northerly  side  of  15th  Street  just  west 
of  Fifth  Avenue,  was  purchased.  Upon  this  property  the 
present  Hospital  buildings  were  erected  from  designs  fur- 
nished by  Mr.  George  B.  Post. 

The  main  building  was  inaugurated  on  March  16,  1877, 
and  was  justly  regarded  at  that  time  as  constituting  the  very 
highest  type  of  hospital  construction.  It  was  well  and 
thoroughly  built  and  well  designed  —  the  main  wards  being 
regarded  even  now  as  models.  The  total  capacity  of  the  Hos- 
pital, including  certain  small  private  wards,  but  exclusive  of 
the  children's  ward,  was  one  hundred  and  sixty-three  beds. 
The  children's  ward  added  the  possibility  of  twelve  or  fifteen 
beds  more. 

Since  that  time  some  additional  land  has  been  purchased 
both  on  15th  and  16th  Streets  and  a  nurses'  home,  a  private 
patients'  building,  a  superintendent's  house,  a  pathological 
laboratory,  and  a  building  used  for  a  laundry  and  servants' 

14 


THE    SUCCESSIVE    HOSPITAL   BUILDINGS 

dormitory,  have  been  erected.  Two  small  private  houses 
have  also  been  purchased  for  the  use  of  nurses.  Even  with 
these  additions,  the  total  number  of  beds  for  patients  is  only 
about  two  hundred  and  twenty-five;  for  it  is  the  increased 
demands  made  by  the  advances  of  medical  and  surgical  knowl- 
edge in  the  past  thirty-five  years,  which  have  compelled  the 
great  additions  to  the  original  building  above  referred  to. 

Admirable  as  these  buildings  were  for  their  day,  they  are 
now  quite  inadequate  to  the  demands  made  upon  them;  and 
it  is  impossible  to  acquire,  in  that  locality,  the  land  so  sorely 
needed  for  expansion  —  even  if  it  were  desirable  to  attempt 
the  expansion  and  reconstruction  which  would  be  necessary 
to  bring  the  Hospital  buildings  up  to  modern  requirements,  in  a 
portion  of  the  town  so  occupied  by  tall  commercial  buildings. 

When  the  Hospital  buildings  in  lower  Broadway  were 
abandoned,  it  was  thought  desirable  by  the  Governors  that  the 
portion  of  the  City  adjacent  to  the  Hospital,  and  which  had 
so  long  depended  upon  it  for  hospital  facilities,  should  not  be 
entirely  deserted.  Accordingly,  a  small  building  formerly 
used  as  a  police  station  in  Chambers  Street,  west  of  Broadway 
was  occupied  as  an  Emergency  Hospital.  This  proving  of 
great  service  to  the  community,  the  Society  subsequently  pur- 
chased a  much  larger  piece  of  land  on  the  corner  of  Hudson 
and  Jay  Streets,  and  erected  there  what  is  known  as  the  House 
of  Relief  or  Hudson  Street  Hospital,  with  a  capacity  of  about 
forty-five  beds.  This  branch  has  done  and  is  doing  in  cramped 
quarters  a  most  admirable  work.  Its  out-patient  and  am- 
bulance departments  especially  are  worthy  of  all  commen- 
dation and  support. 

In  addition,  the  Society  has  recently  established  conva- 
lescent homes  on  its  property  near  White  Plains,  in  which  an 
average  of  about  fifty  men,  women  and  children  a  day  are 

15 


THE    SOCIETY    OF   THE    NEW   YORK    HOSPITAL 

cared  for  entirely  without  charge.  The  value  of  fresh  country 
air  and  an  entire  physical  and  mental  rest  for  convalescents 
has  been  very  amply  demonstrated  in  the  history  of  these 
branches  of  the  Society's  work. 


16 


THE  PRESENT  WORK  OF 
THE  HOSPITAL 

OWING  to  the  good  fortune  of  the  Society  in  disposing 
to  advantage  of  the  land  formerly  occupied  by  it  in 
lower  Broadway  and  its  land  near  120th  Street,  it  has 
until  now  been  in  a  position  to  carry  on  its  large  and  steadily 
growing  work  without  appeal  to  the  public  for  assistance. 

How  vast  that  work  has  been  appears  from  the  fact  that 
since  the  foundation  of  the  Hospital  nearly  1,600,000  patients 
have  been  treated  within  its  walls.  At  no  time  has  this  work 
been  heavier  than  it  is  now.  The  following  statistics  will 
show  what  has  been  done  during  the  year  just  ended: 

The  number  of  individuals  who  received  care  and  treat- 
ment in  all  departments  during  the  year  1911,  amounted  to  no 
less  than  64,677. 

Taking  only  the  main  Hospital  in  16th  Street,  with  which 
this  paper  is  chiefly  concerned,  we  have  the  following  figures: 

Total  number  of  patients  admitted  in  all  divisions 
of  the  Hospital  (excluding  Out-Patient  Department)    12,936 

Total  days'  care  of  patients  in  wards   (excluding 
emergency  cases  remaining  less  than  one  day)    .  .    83,040 

Same  in  private  rooms        .....      7,990 

17 


THE    SOCIETY    OF   THE   NEW   YORK    HOSPITAL 

Number  of  individuals  treated  in  Out-Patient  De- 
partment      ........     17,143 

Number  of  Ambulance  calls        .          .         .         .      6,530 

(It  may  be  observed  that  the  total  number  of  ambulance 
calls,  taking  16th  Street  and  Hudson  Street  together,  was 
11,689  —  the  largest  ambulance  service  in  the  city — all 
purely  gratuitous.) 

The   operating   expenses   of   the    16th   Street 
branch  for  the  year  were         ....    $254,312.74 

The  receipts  from  patients  (chiefly  from  private 
patients)  were 105,624.90 

Leaving  a  deficit  of $148,687.84 

to  be  made  up  from  the  income  of  investments.     This  sum  is 
the  income  (at  four  per  cent)  of  more  than  $3,500,000. 

The  Society  has  hitherto  received  no  support  from  the  City 
authorities,  and  its  income  has  now  become  insufficient  for  its 
maintenance.  With  the  increasing  growth  of  the  City,  and  — 
what  is  perhaps  a  more  urgent  reason  —  with  the  rapid  develop- 
ment of  new  methods  of  caring  for  the  sick,  this  Society  can  no 
longer  meet  the  just  demands  upon  it,  without  recourse  to  the 
generosity  of  the  public-spirited  citizens  of  the  metropolis. 
Their  predecessors,  more  than  a  hundred  and  forty  years  ago,, 
laid  the  foundation  of  the  present  noble  system  for  the  relief 
of  suffering  in  its  various  forms;  and  the  people  of  New  York 
have  never  yet  failed  to  supply  the  means  for  the  essential 
development  of  the  material  requirements  of  the  New  York 
Hospital. 


18 


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PLOT  PLAN  OF  NEW  1DRK  HOSPITAL . 


THE   NEW   SITE 

THE  property  purchased  for  a  new  site  consists,  as  above 
stated,  of  substantially  the  whole  block  bounded  by 
11th  and  12th  Avenues  and  54th  and  55th  Streets. 
From  east  to  west  it  is  eight  hundred  feet  long,  and  it  faces 
for  its  full  length  on  De Witt  Clinton  Park  —  a  small  park  ex- 
tending westerly  from  11th  Avenue  to  the  Hudson  River,  and 
southerly  from  54th  to  52nd  Street. 

This  frontage  gives  to  the  new  site  of  the  Hospital  advan- 
tages which  are  enjoyed  by  no  other  similar  institution  in  the 
City  of  New  York ;  for  the  essential  prerequisites  of  fresh  air 
and  sunshine  for  Hospital  buildings  are  adequately  and  per- 
manently secured  to  the  south. 

On  the  west  is  the  Hudson  River,  from  which  the  westerly 
line  of  the  Hospital  property  is  separated  by  an  avenue  two 
hundred  and  fifty  feet  in  width. 

At  the  Eleventh  Avenue  end  of  the  property  the  ground  is 
much  above  the  River;  and  it  slopes  thence  gradually  to  the 
west,  affording  excellent  opportunities  for  drainage. 

The  actual  site  of  the  Hospital  property  is  nearly  four  acres 
in  size;  but  having  all  the  advantages  of  light  and  air  which  a 
public  park  in  front  of  it  affords,  it  is  not  unfair  to  say  that 

19 


THE    SOCIETY    OF   THE    NEW   YORK    HOSPITAL 

the  land  of  which  the  Hospital  will  be  able  to  avail  itself  will 
amount  to  as  much  as  thirteen  acres  —  an  area  that  could 
hardly  be  looked  for  in  the  heart  of  the  City  of  New  York. 


20 


THE  PROPOSED  NEW  HOSPITAL 
BUILDINGS 

THE  plans  for  the  new  buildings  have  been  prepared  by 
Messrs.  McKim,  Mead  &  White  as  architects,  with  the 
co-operation  of  Doctor  Goldwater,  the  Superinten- 
dent of  Mt.  Sinai  Hospital,  and  Doctor  Howell,  the  Superin- 
tendent of  the  New  York  Hospital,  and  also  with  the  advice 
of  the  Medical  Board  of  the  Hospital  to  whom  all  the  various 
plans  have  been  submitted  for  criticism.  The  first  of  the 
accompanying  diagrams  exhibits  the  relation  of  the  Hospital 
site  to  the  park  and  the  adjacent  streets.  It  also  shows  the 
outlines  of  the  buildings  which  it  is  proposed  at  the  present 
time  to  construct. 

While  planning  for  a  Hospital  of  about  three  hundred  beds 
it  has  been  the  intention  to  adapt  the  initial  buildings  to  a 
final,  consistent  and  economical  enlargement  of  the  Hospital 
plant  to  the  full  capacity  of  the  entire  block.  The  consider- 
ation of  various  schemes  and  preliminary  studies  has  there- 
fore resulted  in  the  preparation  of  the  plans  which  provide  for 
the  immediate  erection  of  a  complete  group  of  modern  Hospi- 
tal buildings,  with  all  the  necessary  adjuncts  for  scientific  and 
educational  work,  and  which  will  accommodate  approximately 
three  hundred  beds.  At  the  same  time,  full  consideration  has 
been  given  to  the  future  enlargement  of  all  the  various  Hospi- 

21 


THE    SOCIETY    OF   THE   NEW   YORK    HOSPITAL 

tal  units;  and  it  is  believed  that  this  has  been  provided  for  in 
the  best  manner  possible,  considering  both  economy  of  future 
construction  and  the  importance  of  conducting  such  future 
construction  with  a  minimum  degree  of  disturbance  to  those 
who  may  then  be  occupants  of  the  Hospital. 

The  laying  out  of  the  initial  buildings,  with  proper  pro- 
vision for  enlargement,  will  necessarily  add  much  to  the  pre- 
sent cost;  but  it  is  believed  that  such  action  will  in  the  end 
prove  wise  economy. 

The  elevation,  perspective  sketch,  and  plans  of  two  of  the 
floors,  which  are  annexed,  will  explain  more  fully  how  the  sev- 
eral requirements  of  the  problem  have  been  met. 

The  letters  from  Doctor  Goldwater  and  Messrs.  McKim, 
Mead  &  White  appended  hereto,  give  a  more  detailed  descrip- 
tion of  the  proposed  new  buildings;  and  reference  may  be  made 
to  these  letters  for  a  fuller  explanation  of  the  purposes  of  the 
several  parts  of  the  group  and  the  reasons  which  have  deter- 
mined the  adoption  of  the  present  plans. 

It  will  be  observed  that  the  group  of  buildings  proposed 
consists  in  reality  of  eight  independent  buildings,  which  are 
all  in  effect  separate;  although  they  are  connected  with 
each  other  by  passages  or  bridges.  They  consist  of  the 
following : 

No.  1  Out-Patient,  Admitting  and  Emergency  Depart- 
ments; 

No.  2     Private  Patients'  Building; 

No.  3     Children's  Wards,  Semi-Private  Wards,  etc.; 

No.  4     Public  Wards; 

No.  5  Nurses'  Home  (subsequently  to  be  used  for  Medi- 
cal Wards  when  No.  4  will  become  a  surgical 
building  purely) ; 

No.  6     Psychopathic  Building. 


3  > 

>  z 

h  a 

cj  uj 

a.  O 

lo  a. 

«:  o 


THE    SOCIETY    OF   THE    NEW   YORK    HOSPITAL 

No.  7     Kitchens,    Laundry,    Servants'    Dormitory    and 
Operating  Rooms  (on  the  top  floor) ; 

No.  8     Laboratory  Building. 

With  one  exception,  the  purposes  of  the  above-mentioned 
buildings  are  sufficiently  explained  by  their  titles,  and  they 
will  take  the  place  of  other  buildings  for  like  purposes  now  in 
existence  at  15th  and  16th  Streets.  The  one  exception  is 
the  building  called  the  Psychopathic  Building,  which  is 
intended  for  the  care  of  cases  of  mental  or  nervous  disease. 

There  is  no  adequate  accommodation  now  existing  in  the 
City  of  New  York  for  such  cases,  except  at  Bellevue  Hospital, 
where  the  surroundings  are  often  very  undesirable  for  people 
of  education  and  refinement,  and  tend  to  aggravate  rather 
than  improve  the  condition  of  such  patients.  The  non-exist- 
ence of  suitable  hospital  accommodations  for  this  class  of  cases 
is  a  reproach  to  the  City  of  New  York.  It  seems  to  be  espe- 
cially the  duty  of  the  Society  of  the  New  York  Hospital  —  hav- 
ing a  large  and  well-equipped  establishment  at  Bloomingdale, 
White  Plains,  for  the  care  of  mental  disease  —  to  establish 
a  small  hospital  in  the  City  for  the  reception  and  prompt 
treatment  of  such  patients  at  an  early  stage  of  their  disease. 
Early  treatment  often  prevents  the  development  of  chronic 
conditions. 

One  other  point  in  reference  to  the  new  buildings  should  be 
mentioned.  The  original  object  of  those  who  founded  the  New 
York  Hospital  was  the  furnishing  of  opportunities  for  clinical 
instruction.  That  important  function  of  hospital  work  was 
never  overlooked  in  the  earlier  days;  and  if  it  has  been  par- 
tially disregarded  in  more  recent  times,  it  is  largely  because  of 
the  inadequacy  of  the  present  Hospital  buildings  for  the  ac- 
commodation of  students. 

In  planning  the  new  buildings,  the  demands  of  education 

24 


THE    PROPOSED    NEW    HOSPITAL    BUILDINGS 

have  been  kept  steadily  in  view.  Rooms  for  a  large  house 
staff  and  ample  accommodations  for  pupil  nurses  have  been 
provided.  In  addition,  an  amphitheatre  for  surgical  oper- 
ations, a  well  lighted  and  well  ventilated  autopsy  room,  and 
an  "examining  room"  for  clinical  teaching,  adjacent  to  each 
of  the  public  wards,  has  been  planned.  The  laboratories  also 
are  designed  upon  an  unusually  large  scale  so  as  to  give  scope 
for  proper  laboratory  instruction  and  research;  and  the  labor- 
atory building  is  capable  of  being  easily  doubled  in  size,  with- 
out affecting  any  of  the  adjacent  Hospital  buildings. 

It  is  hoped  that  with  these  increased  accommodations, 
thorough  and  systematic  instruction  for  nurses,  physicians, 
surgeons  and  students  may  be  developed. 

The  advantages  of  separate  buildings,  from  the  point  of 
view  of  light,  air  and  ventilation,  need  not  be  dwelt  upon.  It 
is  believed  that  these  advantages  are  fully  secured  by  the  pro- 
posed distribution  of  space;  while  at  the  same  time  conven- 
ience of  administration  seems  to  be  admirably  served  by  means 
of  the  various  communicating  passages. 

Any  one  of  the  separate  buildings  could,  of  course,  be  erected 
as  a  memorial,  as  donors  might  desire;  or,  if  a  donor  were  un^ 
willing  to  contribute  the  cost  of  an  entire  building,  single 
wards  —  whether  for  children  or  adults  —  could  be  given  and 
appropriately  named.  No  more  desirable  or  permanent 
memorial  can  well  be  imagined. 

The  total  cost  of  the  group  of  buildings  that  it  is  proposed 
to  erect  at  the  present  time  will  be,  as  appears  from  the  an- 
nexed letter  of  Messrs.  McKim,  Mead  &  White,  about  three 
million  dollars.  The  figures  have  been  checked  by  actual 
bids,  and  there  is  every  reason  to  think  that,  as  the  result  of 
competitive  bidding,  the  above  figure  can  be  materially  re- 
duced. 

25 


THE    SOCIETY   OF   THE    NEW   YORK    HOSPITAL 

Contributions  toward  the  cost  of  these  buildings  are  invited. 

Any  further  information  that  may  be  desired  in  reference 
either  to  the  architects'  plans,  or  to  the  present  work  of  the 
Hospital,  may  be  obtained  from  the  officers  of  the  Society  or 
the  members  of  the  Committee  —  whose  names  and  addresses 
are  appended  hereto. 

George  L.  Rives,  President,  69  East  79th  Street. 

Howard  Townsend,  Vice  President,  15  East  86th  Street. 

Edward  W.  Sheldon,  Treasurer,  45  Wall  Street. 

Henry  W.  Crane,  Secretary,  8  West  16th  Street. 

Henry  W.  de  Forest,  Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Site, 

30  Broad  Street. 
Frank  K.  Sturgis,  36  Broad  Street. 
David  B.  Ogden,  54  William  Street. 
Henry  G.  Barbey,  15  West  38th  Street. 


26 


A  LETTER 
FROM  THE  ARCHITECTS 

March  11,  1912. 

To  THE 

Building    Committee  of    the    Proposed    New    York 
Hospital, 

Mr.  David  B.  Ogden,  Acting  Chairman. 

Dear  Sirs: 

WE  beg  to  send  you  herewith  a  complete  set  of  blue 
prints  showing  the  preliminary  plans  at  VW  scale 
to  the  foot  of  the  proposed  new  hospital  to  be  situated 
on  the  plot  between  11th  and  12th  Avenues  and  West  54th 
and  55th  Streets.  These  plans  are  the  result  of  a  very  care- 
ful study  of  the  requirements  made  by  Doctor  Goldwater  and 
this  office,  and  at  the  same  time  taking  careful  consideration 
of  the  probable  means  available  for  its  construction. 

The  plans  show  on  the  11th  Avenue  front  a  three-story 
building  running  north  and  south  52  x  200  feet,  containing 
the  main  entrance  to  the  hospital  for  all  except  private  pa- 
tients, the  admitting  department,  and  the  out-patient  depart- 
ment. 

Immediately  west  of  this  out-patient  department  building 
on  the  south  front  of  the  lot  is  shown  a  six  story  building  for 
private  patients,  having  on  the  first  floor  an  entrance,  and  also 
offices,  reception  and  examining  rooms,  rooms  for  resident 
officers,  and  containing  above,  five  floors  of  patients'  rooms 
with  complete  service,  including  operating  service  on  the  top 
floor.     These  six  floors  are  planned  to  have  a  height  equal  to 

27 


THE    SOCIETY   OF    THE    NEW   YORK    HOSPITAL 

the  height  of  five  ward  floors,  and  would  accommodate  about 
fifty-five  beds. 

To  the  north  of  this  private  patient  building  is  a  two-story 
building  containing  board  room,  offices  and  ambulance  en- 
trance for  private  patients  on  the  first  floor,  and  physical- 
therapy  and  X-ray  on  the  second  floor. 

To  the  north  of  this  building  again  and  fronting  on  55th 
Street  is  a  six-story  building  46  x  70  feet,  containing  a  mortuary 
chapel  and  funeral  yard  annex  on  the  first  floor,  and  labora- 
tories on  the  floors  above,  including  an  autopsy  room  on  the 
top  floor.  The  six  floors  in  this  building  are  equal  in  height 
to  five  stories  of  ward  floors. 

In  the  center  of  the  entire  plot  to  the  south  the  plans  show 
a  group  of  four  ward  buildings  —  the  two  central  buildings 
seven  stories  high,  the  easterly  and  westerly  ones  five  stories 
high.  The  easterly  building  contains  on  the  first  floor  the 
Superintendent's  apartment,  and  on  the  four  upper  floors 
wards  for  children  and  for  adults,  with  a  total  capacity  of  100 
beds.  The  corresponding  building  on  the  westerly  end  of  the 
central  group  is  occupied  by  the  psychiatric  department.  Of 
the  two  central  buildings,  that  to  the  east  has  the  ward 
visitors'  entrance  with  its  waiting  room  on  the  ground  floor, 
accommodations  for  the  house  staff  on  the  first  floor,  and 
wards  with  a  total  capacity  of  180  beds  on  the  six  upper  floors. 
The  buildings  to  the  west,  which  eventually  will  be  a  ward 
building,  is  shown  on  the  plans  to  be  temporarily  used  as  a 
nurses'  home,  giving  on  the  seven  floors  a  total  capacity  of  175 
beds.  The  two  ward  buildings  for  immediate  use,  together 
with  the  private  patient  building,  would  thus  accommodate 
approximately  335  beds. 

To  the  north  of  this  group  of  four  buildings  is  a  service 
building  44  x  362  feet,  the  cellar  and  first  floor  of  which  con- 
tain kitchens  and  laundry,  and  also  nurses'  and  staff  dining 
rooms  and  dining  rooms  for  male  and  female  help.  Above  the 
first  floor  this  building  is  reduced  to  44  x  152  feet  in  size,  and 
contains  on  four  floors  dormitory  accommodations  for  help 

28 


A    LETTER    FROM    THE    ARCHITECTS 

with  a  capacity  of  152  beds.     The  top  floor  of  this  building 
is  assigned  to  operating  service  for  all  except  private  patients. 

To  the  west  of  the  central  group  is  shown  a  future  building 
the  erection  of  which  is  not  contemplated  at  the  present  time, 
and  ultimately  to  be  used  as  a  nurses'  home,  and  assigned  to 
accommodate  in  the  south  wing  special  medical  and  surgical 
services  to  be  used  when  the  hospital  is  completed  and 
equipped  for  600  patients. 

In  the  service  building  behind  the  central  group  which  has 
been  reduced  to  one-half  of  its  eventual  size,  there  will  be  on 
the  five  upper  floors  of  the  completed  structure  double  the 
capacity  shown  on  this  plan,  while  the  laboratory  building 
may  also  be  given  a  future  extension  doubling  its  capacity. 

Complete  communication  and  direct  connection  exists  in 
the  cellar  and  on  the  first  and  second  floors.  Above  this  level 
inter-communication  exists  between  the  buildings  of  the  cen- 
tral group  only,  excepting  that  the  operating  rooms  on  the 
top  floor  are  connected  directly  by  bridges  with  the  ward 
buildings. 

The  cellar,  which  actually  is  out  of  ground  in  most  of  the 
buildings,  will  contain  the  power  plant,  laundry,  kitchens, 
pumps,  storage  space,  service  corridors,  etc. 

A  sub-cellar  is  contemplated  to  accommodate  all  steam 
power  and  plumbing  pipes,  ventilating  ducts  and  electric  wir- 
ing, and  covering  as  much  space  as  is  actually  needed  for  the 
purpose. 

The  total  cubical  contents  of  all  the  buildings  assigned  for 
the  structure  has  been  computed  by  us  as  amounting  to 
6,625,770  cubic  feet.  And  assuming  that  economy  is  used  in 
building  material,  interior  as  well  as  exterior,  and  allowing  for 
a  simple  facade  constructed  with  a  granite  or  limestone  base 
not  higher  than  the  level  of  the  second  floor,  with  a  brick 
facade  above  and  possibly  relieved  by  a  stone  or  terra  cotta 
treatment,  40  cents  per  cubic  foot  may  be  considered  a  mini- 
mum of  cost.  Allowing  for  more  liberal  construction,  50 
cents  may  be  fairly  considered  a  maximum  cost. 

29 


THE    SOCIETY    OF   THE    NEW    YORK    HOSPITAL 

Upon  a  basis  of  40  cents  translated  into  dollars,  the  cost 
would  be  §2,650,308;  and  at  50  cents,  this  would  be  increased 
to  $3,312,885. 

Yours  very  truly, 

McKim,  Mead  &  White. 


30 


A  LETTER 
FROM  DOCTOR  GOLDWATER 

IN  the  preparation  of  the  plans  an  effort  has  been  made  to 
design  for  each  major  department  of  the  Hospital  that 
type  of  building  which  will  best  meet  the  requirement,  to 
effect  such  a  grouping  of  the  units  as  will  facilitate  interior 
communication  between  the  buildings  which  make  up  the 
Hospital  group,  and  to  turn  to  good  account  all  the  advan- 
tages of  the  carefully  chosen  site.  In  the  earlier  work  on 
the  plans  no  thought  was  given  to  considerations  of  a  purely 
aesthetic  nature. 

The  scheme  proposed  is  most  elastic,  whether  viewed  in 
its  entirety  or  in  respect  to  the  particular  units  of  which  it  is 
composed.  There  is  nothing  in  the  plan,  as  a  plan  (aside  from 
the  obviously  desirable  short  connecting  corridors),  which  will 
necessitate  the  construction  of  a  single  foot  of  building  except 
for  a  specific  and  predetermined  use.  The  scheme  is  such  that 
each  department,  whether  ward,  out-patient  department, 
laboratory,  domestic  service  building,  etc.,  can  be  provided 
for  strictly  upon  its  individual  merits,  while  at  the  same  time 
the  future  development  of  the  Hospital  in  all  its  parts  is  an- 
ticipated, and  a  means  indicated  for  orderly  growth  in  any 
and  all  directions,  with  the  least  possible  disturbance.  The 
following  details  of  the  plan  merit  brief  mention. 

The  typical  ward  is  well  exposed  on  three  sides,  east,  west 
and  south,  and  in  outline  is  adapted  to  the  available  site.     The 

31 


THE    SOCIETY   OF   THE    NEW   YORK    HOSPITAL 

ward  accessories  will  conform  in  their  character  and  arrange- 
ment to  advanced  ideas  concerning  the  grouping  of  patients 
and  proper  ward  service.  Roof  wards  are  provided,  together 
with  ample,  well-distributed  and  favorably  exposed  balcony 
spaces.  The  separation  between  ward  and  ward  may  be  made 
as  complete  as  in  the  case  of  individual  ward  pavilions. 

A  central  department  for  physical  therapeutics,  to  be  loca- 
ted in  the  two-story  connecting  building  lying  between  the 
out-patient  department  and  the  buildings  to  the  west,  will  be 
equally  accessible  from  the  wards,  the  out-patient  department, 
and  the  private  patients'  pavilion. 

The  out-patient  department  is  so  placed  as  to  shield  the 
wards  and  the  private  patients'  pavilion  from  Eleventh 
Avenue.  The  out-patient  building  itself  has  one  quiet  side 
for  examining  rooms  for  the  medical  departments. 

The  admitting  department  of  the  Hospital  proper  is  placed 
in  convenient  proximity  to  the  out-patient  department  en- 
trance. The  admitting  (and  emergency)  department  has  two 
entrances  on  the  street  level,  one  for  walking  patients,  the 
other  for  ambulance  patients. 

The  executive  offices  lie  between  the  main  entrance,  the 
out-patient  department  entrance,  the  entrance  for  private 
patients,  the  wards  and  the  laboratories. 

The  ambulance  yard,  the  funeral  yard  and  the  goods- 
receiving  yard  are  all  removed  from  the  sight  and  hearing  of 
patients. 

There  are  three  main  corridors;  one  on  the  first  floor, 
slightly  above  the  f  fth  Avenue  street-level,  for  the  use  of  the 
staff  and  visitors  generally  (there  are  no  patients  on  this  floor) ; 
one,  the  basement  corridor,  approximately  at  the  f  2th  Avenue 
street-level,  for  the  distribution  of  supplies  and  the  use  of 
employees;  and  one  on  the  second  floor,  for  the  movement  of 
patients  from  the  receiving  wards  to  their  wards  of  destination, 
and  for  the  movement  or  transportation  of  patients  from  all 
departments  to  the  central  therapeutic  departments. 

All  private  rooms,  both  front  and  rear,  will  be  well  lighted ; 

32 


A  LETTER  FROM  DOCTOR  GOLDWATER 

those  facing  south  will  have  the  advantage  of  park  view  and 
southern  exposure;  those  facing  north  will  be  the  quieter. 

The  operating  rooms,  on  the  level  of  the  fifth  ward  story, 
are  connected  by  two  bridges  with  the  ward  buildings,  and  also 
with  the  pathological  laboratory. 

The  pathological  laboratory  is  so  placed  that  its  top  floor 
may  be  used  in  part  as  an  autopsy-room,  and  its  roof  for  the 
accommodation  of  test  animals;  also,  so  that  future  additions 
may  be  made  to  its  capacity  without  interruption  of  function. 

The  typical  ward  buildings,  occupying  the  south  centre  of 
the  block,  are  shown  in  the  plan  as  buildings  of  seven  full 
stories,  each  surmounted  by  a  roof  ward.  The  first  floor,  how- 
ever, is  reserved  for  dormitories  for  the  resident  medical  staff. 

The  westerly  typical  ward  building,  which  will  be  used 
temporarily  as  a  nurses'  home,  is  of  approximately  the  size 
required  to  house  a  staff  of  150  pupil  nurses.  The  slope  of 
the  ground  brings  the  basement  of  this  building  well  above 
street  level  permitting  the  use  of  this  floor  as  a  social  centre 
for  the  nurses,  with  separate  entrance  and  reception  rooms. 
The  building  is  close  to  the  domestic  building,  which  contains 
the  nurses'  dining  room.  A  similar  proximity  will  be  noticed 
between  the  nurses'  dining  room  and  the  northerly  wing  of 
the  future  nurses'  home. 

Occupying  the  space  between  the  private  patients'  building 
and  the  easterly  typical  ward  building,  is  a  five-story  ward 
building  of  special  design,  intended  chiefly  for  children.  A 
spacious  loggia  and  a  group  of  small  wards  with  southern 
exposure,  are  special  features  of  this  building.  This  building 
lies  east  of  the  two  central,  typical  ward  buildings.  To  the 
west  of  the  central  wards,  more  remote  from  the  street,  and 
corresponding  in  general  outline,  but  not  in  its  interior  plan, 
to  the  children's  ward  building,  is  the  proposed  psychiatric 
hospital.  Proceeding  from  the  general  entrances  and  the 
administration  centre,  the  psychiatric  hospital  is  the  terminal 
ward  building.  Its  segregation  may  be  made  complete,  and 
the  privacy  of  its  inmates  fully  protected. 

33 


THE    SOCIETY    OF    THE    NEW    YORK    HOSPITAL 

The  kitchen  and  laundry  and  receiving  and  store  rooms  are 
all  on  one  level,  that  of  the  basement  floor,  affording  the  max- 
imum convenience  in  the  domestic  economy  of  the  Hospital. 

The  dining  rooms  for  nurses,  staff  and  help  are  directly 
above,  and  readily  served  from  the  main  kitchen;  suitable 
access  is  provided  to  each  room. 

The  dormitories  for  the  help  are  approached  through  a 
special  arm  of  the  basement  corridor.  Half  of  these  rooms 
will  have  street  exposure,  the  other  half  looking  out  on  quiet 
open  courts.  By  future  additions  over  the  kitchen  and 
nurses'  dining  room,  dormitory  capacity  may  in  the  future  be 
doubled. 

The  foregoing  indicates  only  the  main  features  of  the  plan 
as  thus  far  developed. 


34 


SOUTHERN    ELEVATION    OF    PROPOSED    NEW   YORK    HOSPITAL    BUILDINGS 


c 

NUH3E3  FUTURE 

> 

1                 . 

NEW.YORP 

•KEY  T 

- 1 

r~ 

NURSEJ'  FUTUR 

\ 

NE  V  TORI  HOSPITAL 


NEW   K»l    HOSPITAL 


.SECOND  FLOOR  PLAN 


FIFTH  FLOOR  PLAN 


FLOOR    PLANS  OF    PROPOSED   NEW   YORK   HOSPITAL   BUILDINGS 


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